Spiral defect chaos in large aspect ratio Rayleigh-Benard convection

Journal Article · Mon Sep 27 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Physical Review Letters; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.71.2026· OSTI ID:6248730

Morris, S W; Bodenschatz, E; Cannell, D S; Ahlers, G ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Center for Nonlinear Science, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9530 (United States)

We report experiments on convection patterns in a cylindrical cell with a large aspect ratio. The fluid had a Prandtl number [sigma][approx]1. We observed a chaotic pattern consisting of many rotating spirals and other defects in the parameter range where theory predicts that steady straight rolls should be stable. The correlation length of the pattern decreased rapidly with increasing control parameter so that the size of a correlated area became much smaller than the area of the cell. This suggests that the chaotic behavior is intrinsic to large aspect ratio geometries.

• DOE Contract Number: FG03-87ER13738
• OSTI ID: 6248730
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review Letters; (United States) Vol. 71:13; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420400* -- Engineering-- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
ASPECT RATIO
CONVECTION
DATA
ENERGY TRANSFER
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUID FLOW
GEOMETRY
HEAT TRANSFER
HEATING
INFORMATION
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICS
NUMERICAL DATA
PRANDTL NUMBER
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES